How to wear purple makeup: 8 Beauty Panel tips for amping up drama on lips, eyes, nails and beyond

Date October 10, 2013

If your beauty bag is missing violet hued products, we think you’re in need of a serious update. From eyeshadows to nailpolish to lipstick, deep purples have been creeping into every aspect of fall makeup and today, we’re teaching you how to make the rich hue work for you.

Jason Wu’s Fall 2013 collection reiterated purple’s prowess in flattering all skin types. His final runway piece, a floor grazing indigo dress, set the tone for the season’s runway beauty look. The show’s purple eyeshadow lifted all muted palettes and monochromatic looks while adding drama to the rouge and indigo pieces.

Challenge 31: Purple is a flattering and easy colour to wear for most eye colours and skin tones, but it can also look super dramatic. What are your tips for wearing the shade? See the answers now! »

Our Beauty Panel proves purple’s versatility for all skin tones. Janella Panchamsingh of Bold n Beautiful Makeup took the daring route of rocking purple lipstick and eyeshadow by playing with different shades and finishes to create a flawless look. JJ Cowan of SFYGF discovered how well the hue complimented her porcelain skin and dark hair. Elaine Atkins of Toronto Beauty Reviews played up her light pastel purple eyeshadow with a violet liquid liner for effortless dramatic eyes.

Worried about which shade of purple works for your skin tone? Look no further than our Beauty Panel that’s here to help.

Have a beauty question you want to see the panel answer? Send it our way at [email protected]. Read on for the answers to this week’s challenge and for more goodness, get to know all contributors on our Beauty Panel hub page.

Michelle Louie
Toronto | A Lovely Allure

Purple is one of the best colours to accent brown or hazel eyes. It took me a while to figure this out when I was younger, because the only colour I wanted to wear on my eyes was blue. But blues are a bit harsher on my brown eyes and hooded eyelids, and I realized my eyes work much better with purple shades. For a more subtle purple look, I’d go for pinky-purples, and add a lighter shade in the inner corners. I think that bluish-purples tend to look more dramatic and work best with lighter eyes, but all types of purple can definitely make your eyes pop.

Whether I am going for a subtle or dramatic look, I will always add a darker purple in the crease. I think that this helps to add depth for hooded eyelids, especially. Depending on the look I am going for, I will add a very deep purple (dramatic) or a purple only slighter darker than what I used on the lid. For this look, I actually added a mauve in the upper crease, but I made sure to have a darker purple in the outer corners of my eyes.

Be sure to prime your eyes beforehand, and use a white base if you’d like the colours to appear much brighter. I used the Coastal Scents 252 Palette in this look, but if you’re not totally sure about purple on your eyes, you can try experimenting with a variety of mini palettes available in stores. Maybelline has quite a few purple palettes in their Color Plush Eyeshadows or Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow Collections.

Products Used: Coastal Scents 252 Palette, Cailyn Gel Liner, Maybelline Rocket Volum Waterproof Mascara

Elaine Atkins
Toronto | Toronto Beauty Reviews

Have you ever thought about wearing purple eye makeup? It’s much easier and more flattering than you think! ANYONE can wear purple as it really makes your eyes stand out and you can go super simple or really dramatic.

For this simple look I took a really light pastel purple eye shadow and washed it all over my lids from lashes to crease. Then all I did was take a purple liquid liner (but take any type of liner you want) and lined my upper lashes with a slight flick at the outer corners. I then took a bit of the shadow and with an angled brush just lined the bottom lashes.

That’s it! Super simple and easy to do for everyday.

Tip: When using coloured liners you want to make sure your lashes stand out with either really good mascara or fake lashes. In my case I’m wearing lash extensions so my lashes are definitely not getting lost!

Products used: Lancôme Artliner liquid liner in “Amethyst,” The Body Shop Colour Crush eye shadow in “Lavender Love,” Lash Extensions c/o Flirt Custom Lash

Stephanie Lau
Toronto | Fun Size Beauty

On the nails, purple is the new black. A dark royal purple is my go-to alternative for black polish. It’s somewhat softer yet still colourful and not too over the top. I’ve matched it up with a complimentary colour, yellow-gold nail foils.

A little “how-to” on applying nail foils:
Protect and smooth your nails with a base coat.
Apply 1-2 coats of a deep purple polish.
Cover the nails with a clear top coat.
When the top coat is 60 per cent dry (touching your polish will leave slight fingerprints) begin lightly dabbing the gold nail foil over the nail bed.
Apply another layer of top coat for extra shine.

Voila! The purple paired with the yellowy-gold nail foil makes for the perfect abstract nail art.

Products Used: Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Smooth and Strong Base Coat, Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy in “Orbit,” Revlon No-Chip Top Coat, Born Pretty Store Nail Foil in “#2”

Shayna Wiwierski
Winnipeg | A Pop of Colour

If you have blue eyes like me, then purple is your best friend!

Fall’s hottest hue is purple and there are so many different ways to rock it. I don’t wear purples that often but when I do I always make it more of a smoky look. First, I’ll work the crease with a dark purple colour then place a lilac shade on my lids. To open up the eye area, I’ll pop a cream in the inner corners. To compliment the look, I’ll use a light pink gloss to pull it all together.

This look is super easy to achieve, makes your eyes pop, and best of all, is so on-trend for the season.

Products used: MAC eyeshadow in “Beautiful Iris,” “Indian Ink” and “Phloof!” Nars lip gloss in “Turkish Delight”

JJ Cowan
Toronto | Secrets From Your Girlfriends

I am a creature of habit and hold a strict list of standard beauty practices that I dare not mess with for fear of disrupting my skins comfort zone. Up until last week, I felt that I had mastered the very best makeup practices that suited my features and skin tone. However, nothing would prepare me for the moment my beauty life changed and my “standard list” literally grew a few pages. It all happened when I was preparing for this weeks challenge, a challenge that called for the color purple, a request that in previous weeks would have left me paralyzed with fear. The truth is, I am afraid of color for the simple reason that I felt like I didn’t know how to work with it, that it would somehow make me look dark and Goth with my pale skin and dark hair. But I quickly discovered that eye shadow, even in its darkest form, is forgiving when you draw outside of the lines. What is more, purple eye shadow will actually exaggerate your eyes in all the right way.

So, with my index finger I literally smudge the tip in my purple shadow and began to smear it along the lower lid of my eye working upwards until I felt I had enough of a base to move on. I then took an eyebrow brush and lined the upper and lower water line with more shadow to create depth and just like that, my eyes, face and overall look was transformed. Now, I add eye shadow to my ever-growing list of beauty obsessions – FASHION Magazine my face thanks you!

Products used: Artdeco Purple Eyeshadow, Eyebrow Brush, Maybelline The Rocket Mascara, NARS Cheek Blush in “Orgasm,” M.A.C Studio Fix Foundation.

Genevieve Peeke
Montreal | Gen In The City

Purple is a big trend when it comes to beauty right now and it really is super easy to pull off! For my eye look I used a creamy purple shadow pencil as a base all over my lid and then applied a mid toned grape colour all over the lid. I then blended a dark plum colour into my crease and used a shimmery white colour for my brow bone highlight colour. I find that purple looks so sexy with touches of black so I used a highly pigmented black liner on my waterline and on my tight line. I topped the look off with a dark volumizing mascara! I am also loving dark plum colours on my nails right now and my current obsession is the CND Vinylux nail polish in “rock royalty”. It lasts for up to a week and is perfect for Fall!

Products used: Urban decay primer potion, NYX jumbo eye pencil in “618 Purple,” NYX eyeshadow trio in “06 Purple/Deep purple/prune ,” Make Up For Ever waterproof eye shadow pencil in “0E,” Sephora Pantone eye shadow quad, NYC big bold curl mascara, flat shadow brush, fluffy eyeshadow blending brush

Janella Panchamsingh
Toronto | Bold n Beautiful Makeup

Purple is one of my favourite colours to wear. I feel that once you pick the right shade of purple it’s a bright colour that can look good—and be flattering—on all skin tones. When I do wear purple makeup I like it to be a monochromatic type of look, layering with different shades and finishes of purple on both my eyes and lips.

Products used: Sephora Jumbo Liner in “Black,” M.A.C Eyeshadow in “Parfait Amour,” “Plum Dressing,” “Carbon” and “Orange,” Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in “#92” and “#164,” NYX Studio Liquid Liner in “Extreme Purple,” Make Up For Ever lashes “#157,” Nicka K lipstick in “Lavender Tint,” M.A.C Lipstick in ”Up the Amp,” La Femme Blush in “Purple Passion,” TKB Trading Mica in ”Highlight Violet”

Marilou Moles
Ottawa | Twenty York Street

One of the easiest ways to integrate bolder colours, like purple, into your look is on your lips! In fact, you can take it from a demure look one day to something instantly dramatic the next! Although purple is flattering for most skin tones, you have to find the right one that suits you and the look you want to achieve.

Since I like to play up the eyes with winged eyeliner these days, I like pairing it with a more matted purple lipstick with a pink undertone. Line the lips with light rose lip liner to prevent from bleeding, dab the lipstick instead of swiping it. The bright purple instantly lightens up the face, like summer in the fall!

Products used: Maybelline Vivids Sensational in “Purple Hot Plum,” L’oreal Lip Liner in “All About Pink,” Maybelline Masterduo Eyeliner.